Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - TDC Launches New Marketing Campaign

The St. Lucie County Tourist Development Council (TDC) will launch its new promotional campaign ''Visit and Explore St. Lucie Florida, Jewel of the Treasure Coast,'' on Thursday, Oct. 30 at the PGA Country Club from 4:30 to 7 p.m. This event is open to the public.

The TDC is proud to announce that the Grand Bahama Island Ministry of Tourism and the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board will be in attendance as honored guests. In addition, the Ryder Cup, now in the United States for the first time in nearly a decade, will also be on display at the event.

The purpose of the event is to unveil new and exciting plans to aggressively promote tourism in St. Lucie County and increase our market share of the state's incredible tourism market. According to Visit Florida Research, in 2007, tourism added $65.5 billion to the economy, generated $3.9 billion in tax revenue and accounted for 991,300 tourism related jobs.

St. Lucie County's new campaign incorporates public-private partnerships to increase the market share of this large tourism market.

''It's exciting what we are doing. In the face of a weak economy and budget cuts, we are doing something pro-active, something to make a positive impact, right here, right now,'' stated Commissioner Doug Coward, who chairs the TDC board. ''We are looking at out-of-the-box methods to attract visitors here, partnering with Visit Florida, national and international travel media venues, and offering a chance for local businesses with a stake in tourism to reach more potential customers than they would be able to on their own.''

The public is invited to attend Thursday event at PGA Country Club, 951 SW Country Club Drive, Port St. Lucie.

The event is sponsored by PGA Golf Club, Morgan Stanley, the Sunrise Theatre, Volo Aviation, Coca-Cola, Port St. Lucie Civic Center and Southern Eagle Distributors.